UK Best Dishes Award 2007

Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie.

This dish came came from Blumenthal’s other restaurant: the Hinds Head Hotel, his 15th century “bit on the side”. The elderly pub shows off the chef’s love of traditional food. Its dedicated to the preservation of dishes in danger of being swept away in the flood of continental cuisine. Typical of the earthy dishes served there, this simple-sounding pie is anything but, combining the soft, savoury flavours of poached chicken, intense salty ham hock, fragrant herbs and smooth creamy veloute, good enough to eat on its own. It’s all packed into a bite-sized, albeit large, package of puff pastry.